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Intarsia Crochet

I’ve been playing with a different colorwork crochet technique: intarsia crochet.

Intarsia differs from tapestry crochet in that the unworked colors are not carried along the back of the work, but left hanging for you to pick back up when you get to the color again.

This piece was worked back and forth in rows. On the back of the piece you can see where the yarn jogs from row to row as it’s picked back up again. On the front of the piece you can see that due to the nature of crochet stitches, the colorwork lines aren’t quite as clean and distinct as knitting colorwork.

In this particular piece, to eliminate long strands of unworked yarn on the back, the pattern called for two separate strands of the main color (one strand of green on each side of the contrasting color diamond). If the diamonds were smaller, say only a few stitches at their center, the same ball of yarn for main color could be used on either side and stranded across the back.

This pattern is from the May/June 2009 issue of Crochet Today magazine. I keep all of my crochet magazines, and they often come in handy a few years later! This was my cousin’s third birthday present. He loves to sleep with it, and he named it Puff the Dragon Snake after one of his favorite characters.